The Left has traditionally assumed that human nature is so malleable, so perfectible, that it can be shaped in almost any direction. By contrast, a Darwinian science of human nature supports traditionalist conservatives and classical liberals in their realist view of human imperfectibility, and in their commitment to ordered liberty as rooted in natural desires, cultural traditions, and prudential judgments. Arnhart's email address is larnhart1@niu.edu.

Thursday, April 19, 2007

The Shameful Glorification of the Va Tech Murderer

The Virginia Tech murderer carefully prepared videos and photographs to glorify his murderous rampage. He sent them to NBC News with the expectation that they would be widely broadcast in the media to appeal to mentally disturbed young men like himself. Of course, he was right, because he knew that journalists in the news media are shameless in their eagerness to broadcast such sensational images.

There are stories now that some of the parents of the victims at Virginia Tech are refusing to give interviews to NBC News as a protest against their complicity in promoting these images. I applaud them. Even if it is impossible in today's world to keep such material from being widely distributed, we should still express our moral outrage when journalists help to glorify a murderer.

As I have indicated, young unmarried men who feel they have no social recognition are tempted to socially disruptive behavior as a way of winning glory for themselves. It's not surprising at all that the Virginia Tech killer referred to the Columbine High School killers as "martyrs" who inspired his behavior. Now we can expect that many more young men who feel isolated and scorned will want to emulate this behavior.

It has been noticed that the Virginia Tech killer's videos seem to have been staged to resemble the videos made by Islamic suicide terrorists to memorialize themselves. After all, most of the suicide terrorists are unmarried young men who are attracted to suicide terrorism as a way of glorifying themselves as religious martyrs.

As a product of evolutionary history, young men are drawn to such murderous behavior. And thus any healthy society must check the turbulent dispositions of young men by channeling them in socially acceptable ways.

Unfortunately, modern state universities like Virginia Tech scorn the traditional idea that schools should act in loco parentis in supervising the behavior of students to form good character. At the very least, students with mental and moral problems should be required to go into counseling with the threat of dismissal from school if they refuse.